Toʻrtkoʻl ( uz, Toʻrtkoʻl/Тўрткўл; kaa, Tórtkúl/Төрткүл, also spelled as Turtkul ( rus, Турткуль), is a city in

Karakalpakstan Karakalpakstan, / officially the Republic of Karakalpakstan, / is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It occupies the whole northwestern part of Uzbekistan. The capital is Nukus (' / ). The Republic of Karakalpakstan has an area of , and ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

and the administrative center of the

Toʻrtkoʻl District Toʻrtkoʻl District ( uz, Тўрткўл, тумани, Toʻrtkoʻl tumani, kaa, Төрткүл райони, Tórtkúl rayonı) is a district of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at the city Toʻrtkoʻl. Its area is and it had 221 ...

. Its population is 58,200 (2016).

History

The city was founded as a Russian garrison after the

Khivan campaign of 1873 In the Russo–Khivan War of 1873, Russia conquered the Khanate of Khiva, and it became a Russian protectorate. Background Twice before, Russia had failed to subjugate Khiva. In 1717, Prince Bekovitch-Cherkassky marched from the Caspian and fou ...

and before 1920 was known as ''Petroaleksandrovsk'' (russian: Петро-Александровск). It was then a major jewelry producing center of Uzbekistan, and was equipped with telegraph in 1913 and with a radio station in 1922; the station began regular translations in 1930. In 1932, the city was renamed to Turtkul (from Turkish ''törtkül'' meaning ''square'') and between 1932 and 1939 was the capital of the newly formed autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. The city was standing nearby a major

Amu Darya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin language, Latin name or Greek ) is a major rive ...

River, which is known for significantly altering its flow path several times in its history. In 1932, Amu Darya once more changed its terrain and flooded Turtkul. This and past damage by Amu Darya urged the authorities to move the capital of Karakalpakstal over 170 km to

Nukus Nukus ( kaa, Nókis / ; uz, Nukus / ; kk, Нүкіс / ) is the sixth-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. The population of Nukus as of January 1, 2022 was 329,100. The Amu Darya river passes ...

in 1939.Турткуль

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

(in Russian) The river banks were reinforced, stopping further flooding. However, in 1942 the river suddenly moved on Turtkul destroying it overnight. Consequently, in 1949 Turtkul had been relocated.

Climate

Toʻrtkoʻl has a

cold desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWk''). The climate is continental, arid and hot. The coldest month is January with the average temperature of and the hottest month is July with an average temperature of . The annual average is . Annual precipitation is 97 mm; it is the highest in March at about 20 mm and is nearly zero between July and September. The evaporation exceeds precipitation on average by 36 times and sometimes up to 270 times.Kenneth Walton (2007
The Arid Zones
Transaction Publishers, , p. 37

Economy

The city has a cotton processing factory, a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

plant, an

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

plant and an external section of Nukus Medical School.

Notable person

Tuti Yusupova Tuti may refer to: Places * Tuti, Estonia, a village * Tuti, Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran * Tuti, South Khorasan, Iran, a village * Tuti District, Peru * Tuti Island, Sudan People * Tuti Indra Malaon (1939-1989), Indonesian actress, dancer and lec ...

, longevity claimant, died in 2015, possibly 134 years old.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tortkol Populated places in Karakalpakstan Cities in Uzbekistan Syr-Darya Oblast